A Blog Without Pictures (not cool, but necessary)

I had a pretty busy Thanksgiving, so I didn’t get the problem with uploading pictures fixed. But I still want to keep up with the tradition of regular weekend posts. Let’s see if I can write a text-only article that isn’t too boring without photos.

Presidential Medal of Freedom:

Award picture added later

You all saw the news that President Trump honored Elvis with a Presidential Medal of Freedom award. I looked up the history on Wikipedia. What a great honor. Here is the explanation of what it is awarded for:

“especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or world peace, or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

So, Donald Trump chose Elvis because of his significant cultural endeavors. Good choice.

There were lots of music notables like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald in the earlier years, But George W. Bush was the first to honor a rock & roll artist with the award — Aretha Franklin in 2005.

So, the Queen of .Soul was honored thirteen years before the King of Rock & Roll.

Award List Added Later

Barack Obama honored eleven music artists, including Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder. He awarded a total of 123 Medals in all categories, the most by any president. Trump is gonna have to step up the pace if he wants to beat Obama on Presidential Medal of Freedom awards.

Book Sale Trivia:

I was reminded again that one-third of the ElvisBlog readers are in countries other than the USA. The first four orders for BIG E and the SANTA MAN came in from:

England
Canada
USA
France

Three out of the first four. I was surprised.

Thanks to all you folks who have supported me with a book(s) purchase.

There will be another promotion as soon as I can post pictures again.

Graceland Store Doesn’t Let off the Gas:

Last week I mused on the frequency of the Graceland Store promotions and their different themes. Here are the six of them in twelve calendar days from November 5 to November 16

Hello Phil: I just wanted to chime in regarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. I am so glad that President Trump honored Elvis with this award. Remember when Elvis received that award from the Jaycees in 1971 for being one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Men of America”. He was so proud of that award that he carried it with him many times. He went to the ceremony and hosted a dinner in a Memphis restaurant for the honorees and brought them to Graceland. One can only imagine how honored he would have been to receive this award from President Trump. Had he been able to, he would have gone to Washington to receive it. Elvis was respectful of the office of the President having met Nixon and also speaking with Jimmy Carter on the phone. That’s my two cents on the subject.